PM stresses on micro containment in Northeast
Biren thanks central leaders; Conrad says cases plateauing in Meghayala state
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR

New Delhi, July 13 2021: Expressing his concern over the growing number of Covid cases in some districts of the north-eastern states during an interaction with the Chief Ministers of the region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stressed on the need to catch these signals and take strict actions at the micro level.

The Prime Minister re-emphasised the use of micro containment protocol in dealing with the situation and asked the CMs to make full use of the experience and best practices gathered over the last one and a half years in this regard.

Modi made the remarks while interacting with the Chief Ministers of Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam on the Covid-19 situation in the region.

During the review session, Secretary (MoHFW) Rajesh Bhushan made a detailed power point presentation on the present COVID-19 scenario in the north-eastern states and the measures taken up by the government to contain the disease in these states.

All the NE CMs including Manipur's N Biren presented the overall preparedness and steps taken up by the state government towards tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the interaction held via video-conferencing and also attended by advisor to CM (Health) Dr Sapam Ranjan, Chief Secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar, Principal Secretary (Health) V Vumlunmang, Secretary to CM Ningthoujam Geoffrey, Director (Health) Dr K Rajo and other officials of Health Department, CM Biren expressed his thankfulness to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah and others for their priceless support and cooperation to the states during this crucial juncture.

Among others, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma said that COVID-19 cases are plateauing in the state.

"We are seeing that cases are plateauing now.

We are seeing a steady decline but the decline has not been at the rate that we anticipated.

Maybe that is because of the fact that we have a lot of scattered population," said Sangma.

The chief minister further explained how in the dense areas they have seen the number of COVID-19 cases come up immediately and then go down; however, in rural areas, the spread is more and taking time to come down completely.

"The positivity rate has come down below 10 per cent, except for two districts that are seeing positivity rate of over 10 per cent," he informed the meeting.

Sangma said that he informed the Centre how the COVID-19 wave hit the Northeast after the rest of the country even in the first wave of the pandemic last year.

Looking at the current wave, it gave the government enough time to prepare in terms of infrastructure and oxygen supply, he added.

Sangma, however, said that COVID-19 vaccination remains a big concern and the state is still registering below the national average in certain aspects.

So the government is pushing things in mission mode, he added.

"If 20,000 to 25,000 people are vaccinated every day, the state could complete the vaccination of all the eligible population by the end of September or early October," he told the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister lauded the people, health workers and the governments of the Northeast for their hard work in the fight against the pandemic and for creating infrastructure for testing, treatment and vaccination despite the difficult terrains of the states.

Noting the fast-mutating nature of the virus, the Prime Minister advised strict monitoring of the mutation and keeping track of all the variants.

He informed that experts are studying the mutations and their impact.

In such a scenario, prevention and treatment are critical, Modi said while emphasising Covid appropriate behaviour.

The Prime Minister also emphasised the utility of physical distancing, wearing masks, and vaccination.

"Similarly, strategy of testing, tracking and treatment is a proven strategy," he said.

Acknowledging the impact of the pandemic on tourism and business, the Prime Minister cautioned against crowding at the hill stations without taking proper precautions.

Rejecting the argument that people want to enjoy before the arrival of a possible third wave of the pandemic, Modi said that one must understand that the third wave will not come on its own, and the main question in people's mind should be how to prevent its possible outbreak.

Referring to repeated warnings against carelessness and crowding by the experts, the Prime Minister said these habits can lead to a massive surge in cases, as he strongly advocated preventing avoidable crowding.

Modi said that in the 'vaccine for all - free for all' campaign of the Central government, the Northeast too is given the same importance, and one needs to keep accelerating the vaccination process.

To deal with the myths pertaining to vaccination and mobilising people, the Prime Minister asked the CMs to enlist the help of social/educa-tional institutes, celebrities and also the organisations of religious faith.

He asked to accelerate the vaccination drive in the areas where the spread of the virus is expected.

Referring to the recent Cabinet nod to the Rs 23,000 crore package for improving the infrastructure for testing and treatment, the Prime Minister said that the package will help in strengthening the health infrastructure of the Northeast region.

"This package will expedite testing, diagnostics and genome sequencing in the Northeast," he said.

The Prime Minister further stressed on the need to quickly increase the number of beds, oxygen facilities and paediatric care infrastructure in the Northeast, and informed that hundreds of oxygen plants are being established in the country through the PM-CARES Fund and the Northeast region too has got about 150 plants.

The Prime Minister urged the CMs to complete the process of establishing these plants quickly.

Underlining the need to establish temporary hospitals due to the geographical situation of the Northeast, Modi asked them to prepare trained manpower for the oxygen plants, ICU wards and new machines that are reaching the block level hospitals.

He assured all help from the Central government.

Noting the capacity of 20 lakh tests per day in the country, the Prime Minister highlighted the need to augment the testing infrastructure in the affected districts on a priority basis.

He further stressed on aggressive testing along with random testing and expressed hope that India will surely be able to contain the spread of the virus with the collective efforts.

Apart from the Chief Ministers, Union Ministers for Home, Defence, Health, DoNER and other ministers were present during the interaction.

The Chief Ministers briefed about the progress of vaccination in their states and the steps that are being taken to take the drive to the far-flung areas.

They also discussed the issue of vaccine hesitancy and the measures being taken to overcome it.

They gave an account of improvement in medical infrastructure to better tackle Covid cases, and the support lent through the PM-CARES Fund.

They gave assurance of taking timely action to bring down the positivity rate as well as the number of cases in their states.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah talked about the reduction in the overall daily number of cases but forewarned that this should not lead to one becoming lax and letting one's guard down.

He said that some areas of the country are witnessing high positivity rates, and emphasised on the importance of testing, tracing, tracking and vaccination.

Prime Minister Modi had also spoken to the chief ministers of Manipur, Sikkim and Tripura on the COVID-19 situation in their states in early May this year.

The Prime Minister's interaction with chief ministers is part of his exercise to deal with the pandemic situation.

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